29-31 Toberwine Street

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Plain two storey terrace house of possible pre 1832 origin, once divided into a shop and dwelling house, but much altered in the later 1980s with the shop front etc removed and large extension added to rear. The property is set on the W side of Toberwine Street.

The front (E) façade is symmetrical. To the centre of the ground floor is a panelled timber door with a plain rectangular fanlight over. To the left of the doorway is a sash window with Georgian panes (6/6). To the right is a similar window. Both windows are relatively small and the level of their heads is approximately 300mm lower than that to the door. To the first floor there are three evenly spaced sash windows, as before. The façade is finished in painted lined render with in-out chamfered quoins and plinth.. There is an eaves course projection.

To the rear is a recent full width single storey lean-to extension. To the left side of this a French window with modern strip glazing to the right and a single modern window to the left. There are two Velux windows to the lean-to roof. Above the lean-to roof (on first floor of rear façade of main building) there are three unevenly spaced small windows with recent six pane (Georgian-like) frames. This section of the rear façade is finished in unpainted rough cast. To the roof is a large recent flat roofed dormer window with multi-paned windows.

The main (gabled) roof and the lean-to roof are both slated. Two brick chimneystacks. PVC rw goods.

Historical information

TOBERWINE STREET
Toberwine Street (‘Street of the ‘sweet well’) may represent the original area of settlement within the village of Glenarm, its narrowness betraying something of its antiquity. The original 13th century castle of Glenarm, around which the village developed, is believed to have stood at the south west corner of the street, on the site now occupied by the former court house. The castle itself was deliberately ‘broken’ by Sorley Boy MacDonnell in 1597 and, seemingly, not repaired- Sorley’s descendant, Sir Randal McDonnell, building a new residence on the other side of the river. Some historians state that the old castle was occupied by tenants (and therefore presumably repaired in some fashion), in the later 17th century, but Richard Dobbs makes no reference to it in his 1683 description of the village.

The first mention of ‘Toberwine’ within the Antrim Papers appears to be in a lease of November 1672, which refers to a house within the area, with ‘Toberwine Street’ mentioned in a lease of August 1709. On John O’Hara’s 1779 map of Glenarm (the earliest extant plan of the village) the street is shown fully developed on both sides, with the market / court house to the south west end. There is no verifiable indication of any remains of the old castle shown on the map, but the remark made in the 1835 OS Memoirs concerning ‘the foundations of a very extensive old castle which stood at the centre of the town until a few years ago’ indicates that ruins of some kind may have lingered into the early 19th century.

Evidence provided by the valuation of 1833 suggests that most of the buildings we now see on the west side of the street were present (in some form) at that date and that many were probably 18th century. The east side of the street witnessed a much greater degree of development after 1833 however, with nos.4-12 all c.1840, and nos.20-34 and 62 post c.1860- some of the latter replacing modest single storey dwellings. There is evidence to suggest that large three storey former Antrim Arms Hotel (and possibly its neighbour no.56) may have been standing in the early 1830s, but this is not certain.

No.29-31
The site was shown occupied on John O’Hara’s map of 1779 and all others thereafter. The 1833 valuation tells us that at that stage there was an ‘old’ (grade ‘C+’) two storey dwelling on site which was occupied by an Andrew Snoddy. In 1859 two dwellings are recorded, the smaller of which (to the north end) appears to have occupied part of the ground floor only. The 1859 structure is 2½ft taller than that of 1833 suggesting either that the roof was raised slightly or that the entire structure was rebuilt. The grade ‘B-’ given by the 1859 valuers indicates that rebuilding may have taken place but in some cases it can indicate a building which is older but which has undergone major refurbishment during the past twenty years or so. Perhaps significantly, the current ower has discovered a datestone marked ‘1802’ lying loose at the rear of the property.

In the later 1800s part of the ground floor of the property was converted to a shop and a small shop front inserted (to the south side). Judging from photographs, this shop front may have appeared as early as the 1870s. This shop front remained in place until c.1987 when the property was refurbished, extended and converted wholly to a dwelling house.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977/3A/4/65/2, 30, 34A, 36, 37A-B, 43-45, 70A-B etc. Antrim Papers Leases relating to property in ‘Toberwine’ / Toberwine Street, 1672, 1709, 1736/7, 1753 etc.
2 PRONI D.2977/36/3/1A Antrim Papers Map, showing the Town of Glenarm, plus Glenarm Castle and demesne, by John O'Hara, 1779. [Includes a list of the tenants in Glenarm town.]
3 Ulster Museum A view of Glenarm Castle (painting dating from some time between 1768 and 1812) [This painting also shows the town itself.]
4 View of Glenarm c.1769-c.1812 (painting in possession of Lord Dunluce)
5 “The town and castle of Glenarm, Co. Antrim” [1830] by T.M. Baynes in ‘Ireland illustrated’ (London 1831)
6 ‘Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland…’ vol.13 [c.1830-35] ed. Angelique Day and Patrick McWilliams (QUB 1992), p.127
7 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33
8 PRONI VAL/1B/149 First valuation, Tickmacrevan parish, 1833 [The map to accompany this valuation is now lost making it extremely difficult, (and in most cases impossible), to tell which properties the valuation book is actually referring to. In some cases (most notably the west side of Toberwine Street) the writer has been able to successfully correlate the information contained within the second valuation notebook for 1859 with that of the first valuation, in order to decipher some of the details contained within the latter, but for most properties within Glenarm this has not been possible.]
9 Samuel Lewis, ‘A topographical dictionary of Ireland’ vol.1 (London 1837), p.658
10 William Makepeace Thackery, ‘Irish sketchbook’ (1843), p.238
11 Mrs and Mrs S.C. Hall, ‘Ireland: Its scenery, character etc., vol.III (London 1843), p.130
12 PRONI VAL/2D/1/11 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1859 [with later annotations- ?c.1900]
13 PRONI VAL/2B/1/41B Second valuation [notebook], village of Glenarm, 1859 [In the light of the problems concerning the first valuation this notebook and its accompanying map are both invaluable. For many areas the details of the second valuation only survive in the final printed form, with the names of householders and leaseholders and the rateable value for each property supplied only. For some areas, Glenarm among them, the working notebooks compiled by the valuers have survived, providing information such as dimensions of buildings, their use, the number of rooms they contain, notes on age and condition, and, (occasionally), comments regarding the overall appearance of properties. In many respect these notebooks closely resemble those of the first valuation, but frequently contain more detail.]
14 Photographs of Glenarm and district, c.1872 (in possession of Sandy Watson, Mark St, Glenarm)
15 PRONI OS/8/103/1 OS town plan of Glenarm, 1903
16 PRONI VAL/12E/31/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm, 1907-[1935]
17 PRONI VAL/3G/20/1 Valuation town plan of Glenarm. 1936-57

Secondary sources
1 C.E.B. Brett, ‘Historic buildings…Glens of Antrim’ (Belfast 1971), p.16
2 Eileen Black, “A view of Glenarm Castle” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.7 (1979), pp.29-30
3 Jimmie Irvine, “A map of Glenarm- 1779” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.9 (1981), pp.52-61
4 Hon. Hector McDonnell, “The building of the parish church at Glenarm” in ‘The Glynns- Journal of The Glens of Antrim Historical Society’ vol.10 (1982), pp.31-36
5 Felix McKillop, ‘Glenarm- A local history’ (Glenarm 1987)

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Much altered and extended gabled symmetrical pre 1832 house, set within the terrace on the W side of Toberwine Street. Does not meet statutory criteria for listing and not of special architectural interest.